Joel Embiid Next To Be Traded? (Hour 3)

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Zach, always a pleasure, man. Been great. How about yourself?

Well, I'm doing fantastic. Let me ask you about your Seahawks right out of the gate. They don't play until Monday night.

They are 2-1 to open up the season. After three games, what has been your view on the Seattle Seahawks? You don't usually hear people say this, but I'm kind of glad they lost their first game because what happened was it started with Coach Carroll. He admitted on our radio show that I didn't have these guys ready.

I didn't have them prepared. And I say this all the time. If Coach Carroll is on point, if Coach Carroll is being the fierce leader that he is, this team will be phenomenal. And I love what I saw from them when they went on the road, played the Detroit Lions and handled business last week and they played the Carolina Panthers. And this offense, they knew going into the season that we're going to have to lead this charge. The offense, we've got to put this team on our back. And Geno has been spectacular.

Obviously, Tyler doing what he does. And so this team, people aren't talking about them. They're not talking about my Seahawks enough. They should go 3-1 when they play the New York Giants after this and go into the bye week. And so I love what I'm seeing from this first quarter of the season.

The letdown that we have against the Rams was unacceptable, but it was needed to really get this team on the same page and get this season off to a good start. I've been very bullish on the Seahawks this offseason. And you hear the national kind of conversation, though, for most people is, was one year, was last year a one-hit wonder with Geno Smith? You just said you were very confident pretty much in the quarterback of Geno Smith.

I'm just wondering, why is that? Because I was with Geno Smith when I was in Seattle and I saw him as a backup. I went against him several times when he was a scout team quarterback. I faced him in training camp when we had two men in drill. And I'm like, this guy's mechanic is great. This guy has a beautiful arm. And this guy can play some really good football.

We knew that obviously he started in New York. That was a disaster. Backed up Phillip Rivers. And he just took full advantage of his opportunity when the Seahawks traded Russell Wilson. And so Geno's a really good quarterback. His leadership, I don't know if you saw, but when it went up to Jackson Smith and Jenkins was saying, hey, I need you. You got to get this thing turned around. That's on me.

That's not on you. The way that he rallies the troops, the way he's not afraid to speak in front of the team. The guy's, first of all, a good guy, a good teammate. When he steps on the football field, he handles business. If you were part of the Seahawks organization still, and you were getting ready to go up against the Giants in the swamps of Jersey at MetLife Stadium on Monday night, what would be your view of the Giants quarterback in Daniel Jones?

I just did a film breakdown on Daniel Jones on my podcast, KJ All Day. And I'm telling you, I know he has two touchdowns, four interceptions. I know he's in the bottom of the league when it comes to passing yards. But the guy is pretty decent.

I'm not sleeping on Daniel Jones at all. First and foremost with the way he's able to run the ball. He gets back there, scrambles. The dude looks like a big tight end running the football. And his best attribute is his play action game in particular out of the shotgun. When he has his play action out of the shotgun, he finds Darren Waller. He finds those receivers down the field. That's when he's at his best. And so Brian Daybaugh knows that. He watches the film on him as well. He practices with him every day. And so he can be explosive, but at times he does do some stuff like, what are you doing? What were you thinking?

Let's not do that again. But when he's on, he looks pretty good. Currently, KJ Wright is the host of his very own podcast, KJ All Day. You can listen and watch on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and more. You can also hear KJ Wright on Seattle's ESPN 610 AM, the KJ Wright Show.

KJ Wright here with us on CBS Sports Radio. Let's get to the game tonight. Lions and Packers. I think there's a lot of intrigue for this showdown between these two NFC North teams. We're still trying to figure out how legit the Lions are, and the Packers have surprised people through the first three games of the season. The Lions got to come on with it now. Hey, you had all this hype, all this build up. You know, you're going to win this division. You're going to handle your business.

Tonight, it has got to get done. And watching the Lions offense, Jimmie Gibbs. I mean, you took this guy high, you drafted him early, number 12 overall pick.

Get this guy going even more. I need this guy to get more touches out of the backfield, more perimeter, design specialty runs. Because when he does have the football in his hands, he's one of the most explosive guys in the NFL.

And so he's a phenomenal talent. Jerry Goff, I think he's going to handle business. If I had to pick a team, where is it? Is it in Green Bay?

Yeah, it's in Green Bay. Oh, that's hard. That's hard.

Some way, some how. Detroit Lions, I got the Detroit Lions pulling off. It's going to be a nail biter, but I'm a big fan of the Lions. When you got to Seattle, you got there in 2011. That was your first year with the Seattle Seahawks. They weren't the way that we know of the Seahawks, right, with what you guys ended up doing. When you talk about where the Lions are trying to get through, and you were in that building process, and you guys were 7-9, then next year 11-5, and then the year after that you win the Super Bowl. When you're trying to become that team, what's the biggest advice that you could give to the Lions who are in that spot right now where everyone's hyping them up, but we still are a little skeptical if they can get the job done? I know, first and foremost, there's going to be so much media attention around you saying, oh, you're doing this, you're doing that. What we did really, really well was we ignored the noise, and we just focused on ourselves.

When it came to practice, we handled our business. When it came to game time, we handled our business, and I got to give John Snyder and Coach Carroll a lot of credit, the people that they brought in. Everyone forgets about that trade that they made for Marshawn Lynch getting them from Buffalo. Everybody forgets that Richard Sherman was a fifth-round pick. Cam Chancellor was also a fifth-round pick. So the way that they continued to build the team through the draft and a little bit in free agency, getting a Michael Bennett or Cliff Abel, the management did a phenomenal job in building that team. So it starts at the top and it trickles down. So the way that they built that culture, Coach Carroll coming from USC to the Seattle Seahawks, brought that culture here. I love what I see from Dan Campbell in building that culture, having sold out stadiums. That's what it's going to take to really get this thing turned around.

Everyone has to be bought in. You were in the same draft class as Richard Sherman. You were a fourth-round pick. He was a fifth-round pick.

You both being young guys trying to make it and exceed the expectations from where you were drafted. When did you know that Richard Sherman was going to be a great player in this league? I mean, the first day I met this dude, he wouldn't stop talking. You were like, this guy won't shut up. He's a pain in the ass, right? This man would not stop talking and not compare Sherman. I know it's kind of bold, but I compare him to a Muhammad Ali in the sense of how... Let me finish.

In the sense of, he was someone that said, I'm great, I'm this, I'm that before he really was, right? I remember the first week he was starting against the 59er Bengals, it was Andy Dalton versus A.J. Green. He was like, I'm going to pick this dude off. I'm going to pick it and I'm going to shut A.J.

Green down. He hadn't even started a game. This was like week six, week seven of the season. If he went out there, they threw a fade ball to his side and lo and behold, number 25 gets his first interception and after that he had like 45, 50 more. And so confidence has never been an issue with Richard Sherman. He came on the scene confident as all get out and put together a Hall of Fame career.

Unbelievable story. KJ Wright here with us on the Zach Gelb show. Big matchup this weekend inside the AFC East. The Dolphins are going to Buffalo to square off against the Bills. Who has more pressure on them in this one?

Do you think it's Miami or do you think it's Buffalo? When you put up 70 points, the expectations is 70 points. I mean, what they did last week was unheard of since I believe the 1960s or 70s. You know, people are really looking at this offense and they're really looking at Tua like, OK, you guys made some noise. Let's see if you can put up 50 this week or do 40 this week.

And so they opened up Pandora's box and I just love what I see from Tua. If the season ended today, he's the MVP of the league. And the way that he had that interaction with Ryan Clark earlier in the season, being called overweight. People talking about that he doesn't have the big time arm as the Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen. He can't he don't know what to do with a Tyreek Hill.

He's the guy that went out there, shut out the noise and handled his business. And so Mike McDaniel is the future. He's the next Kyle Shanahan, who's one of the best play callers I've ever faced.

And so the way they get creative in the red zone, the way he maximizes his run game and all these weapons, this thing is really fun to watch. Yeah, it's interesting that you bring up the Shanahan comparison because I called the Dolphins before the year like 49ers light because they look like they are where the 49ers were a few years ago. And they're only getting started with Miami as long as the quarterback can stay healthy. As long as the quarterback can stay healthy, God willing, this team is going to be in the playoffs, going to compete to win this division. And who knows, I mean, they may not win the Super Bowl this year, but keep the core together. That's what we did in Seattle. When we won, we had that long stretch of five, six years. We kept the core together. We just continued to add pieces.

And so the management has got to be on point. We continue to build this team around Tua, add some weapons on the defensive side of the football. They don't even have Jalen Ramsey yet.

Everyone forgot about him. Hopefully he can come back in December when they make this playoff push. And so I like this Miami Dolphins football team and we'll see if they can compete and win this AFC East. And you know the biggest thing, if the Dolphins are ever in the Super Bowl, run the ball if you're at the one yard line because then you won't have to break up the team. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Oh man, you brought that up.

I can't believe you did that. That's why that team didn't win another Super Bowl. Like that greatness of that team ended that night in Glendale, Arizona.

It ended and we no longer trusted each other. We were second-guessing people up top. And I get the analytics, whatever, you know, one timeout, who cares? If you run the ball every single time, we'd probably come back that next year with a vengeance, mad, ready to get in the Super Bowl.

But instead it was like a dark gray rainy cloud over that building that we had here in Seattle and it stayed up for about three to four years. Yeah, I know you could say analytics and I say this as a Patriot fan, it made no sense whatsoever. There's no numbers in the world where I can say, OK, my eyes and my gut tell me run the football there.

I don't care what the numbers say. Like that's a Brandon Staley type of answer there, KJ, right? You know that. And what makes it, what doesn't make any more sense is how the heck did Malcolm jump it, run through a guy, literally ran through the guy back and got an interception.

Who does that? That should be an incomplete pass. We should have ran to the next play and got, I'd be back to back to the Super Bowl champ. Well, thankfully you didn't.

Now I'm just going to complain about my one that I have. Let me ask you about your old quarterback, Russell Wilson. Last year, we all know, was a disaster for the Broncos. This year, it somehow got even worse. How do you view Russell Wilson right now in the NFL and what his career is going to be moving forward?

Man, let me tell you this. I start with Sean Payton. I'm not starting with Russell Wilson.

I start with Sean Payton and the leadership and calling out his quarterback, telling him stop kissing babies, saying that Daniel Hackett put together the worst coaching display he's ever seen in his life and this dude got beat by 50 points. And so it starts with that dude and then you go to Russell Wilson and I look at it, the same type of offense. What Daniel Hackett did, well it's similar to what Russell Wilson is going through.

He's in a system that he's not familiar with. He's in a system that's not maximizing his talent. Every time I see Russell Wilson make a play, he drops back, he scrambles so he can see. He can't see in that window behind the quarterback. He has the vision and he makes dimes like he's done his whole career in Seattle.

And so if he wants to maximize Russell Wilson, get the dude outside the pocket so he can get some vision to get the ball to Sutton and Jerry Judy. And so it starts with him and I don't like what Sean Payton has done from a leadership standpoint. Is Sean overrated to you as a head coach? I mean, okay, he's won one Super Bowl, which is not easy to do. A lot of coaches wish they had that one Super Bowl. Facing him throughout my NFL career, I personally dominated him.

I mean, I was part of Legion of Boom, but we dominate him every time we faced him. And he's good. He's a great play caller. I just look at the leadership. And I know he's from the Bill Parcells tree, but my God, this isn't the 1990s.

You can't just say whatever you want to say, when you want to say it, and how you want to say it. You've got to find a way to keep things in-house, build up your players, build up your teammates. I know Russell Wilson's personality, he doesn't handle that stuff very well. He's behind the doors, you know, kind of, you know, judge him a little bit to get the best out of him. And so I'm not going to say he's overrated, but when I see what he's doing with his football team, I'm questioning the effort that they displayed last week. And I was really maximizing this offense in particular with number three. Oh, they quit last week.

Like, I don't care who you are. You can't allow 70 points in a game. I've never seen that. Go watch the tape. Dudes are jogging.

Dudes are loafing. Dudes aren't scrapping, fighting, clawing to try to stop that bleeding. It was on display. And what he should do come that Monday morning is watch every single play in their team meeting room. We've got to watch every single play as a unit.

We're going to call out what we see. That's leadership and that's coaching. And so I don't know if he did it or not, but if I was a coach, that's what we're doing. Last thing I'll ask you, when we go back to Russell Wilson, if you would ask me before he got to Denver if he would have been a Hall of Famer, I would say yes. If this continues, I think he's going to play himself out of the Hall of Fame.

How about yourself? Let's say if it continues, if he's at the end of the day, I don't think he gets in. Ten years, phenomenal in Seattle, got you a Super Bowl. If he does get in, it's going to be very, very late, but the way his image has just flipped upside down. This dude was a golden boy here in Seattle.

This guy could do no wrong. When I see how the media sees him, when I see how he's a laughingstock when it comes to the fan base, it's really sad to see. And so hopefully he does get this thing turned around. I know he's still a good quarterback, but 0-3, getting 20 points continues to get called out in the media. It's just not pretty for Russ.

I know he's feeling the pressure right now. KJ Wright, always appreciate the time. Thanks so much once again. KJ Wright is the host of his very own podcast, KJ All Day. You can listen to it. And watch it on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and more. You can also hear KJ Wright on Seattle's ESPN 710 AM on the KJ Wright Show. Always appreciate the perspective, KJ. Let's do it again real soon. Yes, sir.

Enjoy it. Thank you, Zach. You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show.

It is the Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio. In the aftermath of the Damian Lillard trade to the Milwaukee Bucks, it got me thinking. So the Bucks are clearly the favorites now in the Eastern Conference. But before that, it was really three teams with Milwaukee, Miami, and the Boston Celtics.

And order them up and rank them up however you want, 1, 2, and 3. But now with Dame going to join forces with Giannis Antetokounmpo, I think it's clear cut that the Bucks are 1, the Celtics are 2, and then the Miami Heat are 3 in the Eastern Conference. Who's the one team that we didn't talk about there in the East? It's the Sixers. And if I'm Joel Embiid, where you're trying to figure out how you can get closer to getting to an NBA championship to try to go win an NBA championship, I know that there is some blame that needs to go on the shoulders for Joel Embiid coming up small in the postseason.

But the Sixers continuously fail to get him the right running mate. Whether it was Ben Simmons, whether it was Markelle Fultz, or James Harden. And now Harden no longer wants to be there and he can't stand his former best friend in Daryl Morey. And the guy that you got in Jimmy Butler goes on to start him once he leaves the organization and joins the Miami Heat.

And if I'm Joel Embiid right now, I'm saying I can't take this anymore. Because you knew it was going to be an uphill battle to be able to be on the same level as the Bucks, Heat, and Celtics. And this offseason, I know Christos Verzingis is dealing with a bunch of injuries, but he goes to Boston, makes them better. And they're already a better teammate if they don't have Christos Verzingis in the Sixers. Then the Miami Heat, we've seen them last year blimp into the postseason, almost go out in the play-in tournament, in the second play-in tournament game, where they're down by a few points late in the game. And you know Miami got to the NBA Finals a year ago. And then you look at the Milwaukee Bucks, who already won a championship.

In the last two years, their season got impacted by injuries. And now they add another top 10, top 15 player in the sport in Damian Lillard. If I'm Joel Embiid, I'm looking around today saying, the Sixers are never winning a championship. And I would look at my situation as a player option in 2026, 2027. I don't think it's going to happen right now, but I said this in the offseason and I'll say it again. That Joel Embiid, by the end of this year, is going to request a trade from the Philadelphia 76ers. And I can't fault him whatsoever if he elects to do that. But if your goal is to win, you only maybe have, what, three more prime years left with how much wear and tear is on your body?

And how many injuries you have accumulated through your young career? I would not wait any longer once this season comes to a close, and we haven't even started the season yet, if I was Joel Embiid. So that was something, Hickey, that I wanted to circle back to in the aftermath of what's like point B, C, and D in the whole aftermath of Damian Lillard going to the Milwaukee Bucks. And if you're the Sixers, I don't think that's the worst thing to happen to your franchise. If you look at it right now, I thought the only way they could have maybe gotten themselves unstuck from where they are in the middle, where they're not good enough to win a championship, they're nowhere near right bad enough to tank, is getting a guy like Damian Lillard. And obviously that trade did not go down, now he's in Milwaukee. Who's out there for you to pair with Embiid where you can realistically get and then compete for a championship with? And that's the other thing too.

We always thought it was impossible. Like everyone threw out the Sixers. People threw out the Bucks of places that Damian Lillard should be open to playing to. But no one thought he was actually going to get traded to either one of those places, because in the era of player empowerment, what the player wants is usually 9.9 times out of 10 what the player gets. And that even further adds the insult to injury here if I'm Joel Embiid, where you probably thought there was never really a chance you were going to get Dame, and then another team that we thought there was really no chance was going to get Dame actually goes and gets Damian Lillard. So that to me even makes it more infuriating if I'm Joel Embiid. It would make me even more inclined to say that I won out. Absolutely. And again, that's why I say if you're the Sixers, if he at the end of this upcoming season says, you know what, I can't win here. I want to go to a different team and start over.

If you're Philly, it's kind of a blessing in disguise. And you would also get a haul. Right.

Exactly right. And you can restart and hope this time you hit your draft picks and multiple draft picks. Like they hit with Embiid.

Their problem was they didn't really hit with anybody else. And whether it's packaging those draft picks for someone else or building around Tyrus Maxey, you hope that you can get not this is a process, but you hope you get a quote unquote, this process will say right compared to the first time about a decade ago. You know, it's crazy that they're back into the process mode if they do trade Joel Embiid, because if you trade Joel Embiid, you that was the only really positive part of the process that result. And I, you know, I was back and forth on the process. There were some days I would wake up and I was like, I don't like it.

And then I started to come around on it. But I just never thought Sam Henke was going to go off of that point of, OK, we're trying to be losers to then, OK, we're trying to go contend. And I thought there was a disconnect there where Sam took too long to try to say, OK, now we're ready to make our ascension from perennial losers to a team that's going to get ready to be perennial winners.

And last few years, they consistently been a playoff team. But if they would have just hit one other of those draft picks right from all those top picks in New Orleans, Noel, Jalil Okafor, Michael Carter Williams, who did win a rookie of the year, might I add? And then Ben Simmons and Markel, it is crazy, crazy that they couldn't ever get the other guy there to compliment Joel Embiid. And the one guy that you brought in via trade was Jimmy Butler.

I know it's right revisionist history because Butler was good in Philadelphia. He wasn't a top 10 player like the way that we view him now, Miami. But that guy walks out the door and it was really because the organization kept on coddling Ben Simmons. I know that he said, oh, they paid to buy his Harris over me.

That wasn't it. It was because Brett Brown and Ben Simmons, right, that that whole thing, it is mainly the organization. They were all afraid to just be realistic until Doc Rivers got there and be honest with Ben Simmons and say that they needed more from Ben Simmons. And they ended up choosing Ben, which at the time, I can't crush them for doing that where we thought the ceiling of Ben Simmons was going to be. But then to see that Jimmy Butler turns out to be that player and beat him, Butler were really close. It's one of those things you just say, even with all those missing of the draft picks, if they just would have had the foresight or they go back and do it and keep Jimmy Butler at Sixers team gets to a championship. Now, if Kawhi Leonard doesn't hit that shot, I'm not saying they're locked to get to the finals that year because you still have to beat the Milwaukee Bucks. I'm pretty sure it was Raptors, Bucks in the conference finals.

Yeah, because Milwaukee had the lead and they blew it. But that one moment really did put an end to the championship window of the Sixers, because everything that followed after that, you knew Ben, Ben ended up being a disaster and never got on the court and ended up hating Embiid and Doc Rivers. And then you bring in James Harden. We all knew that, sure, James Harden made the Sixers better, but we never looked at the Sixers as a team that was going to end up winning a championship with James Harden. Because if you need James Harden to be clutch, there's a fundamental flaw in that in terms of James Harden isn't a clutch player.

And it's kind of weird, but it's actually justice, I guess. If it makes any sense that now James Harden is is going after Daryl Morey because Daryl knew James Harden better than anybody. And he had this blind loyalty to James Harden. And it kind of I don't think just the right word, but it serves Daryl Morey right that now Harden has turned on him because he should have never went back to the well of James Harden.

Agreed. And they're right. They're chasing the ghost. They're trying to win a championship with Embiid. And now they're just really grasping at straws and thinking that James Harden can be a true championship number two. Like I said, we've seen it for years on end. They still don't believe it. So now, again, if you are Philly, the good news is if Embiid when really feels like inevitable Embiid leaves, at least you get a head start with the haul.

You'll get back up. It's not tear it all down and start from zero. You have tires, Max, you'll draft picks like you at least are in a way better starting spot than you were when the process first started. So let me ask you this. Do you think the Sixers owed it to Joel Embiid to go get Damian Lillard? You would say yes, correct? Yes.

Okay. So then let me give you what the trade would have been. Just the one player that would have moved. Because if you really look back at it, you still get the Suns in the deal. DeAndre Ayton goes to the Portland Trail Blazers.

But you look at what the, I guess, big piece was. And Drew Holliday is a good player. But you got Drew Holliday going to Portland and now Portland will trade Drew Holliday and get something back for him.

I don't know what they're going to get in return. But if you were the Sixers, you say that they owed it to Embiid to go get Damian Lillard. Does that mean they should have traded Tyrese Maxey and whatever else to go get Damian Lillard?

Yes. I would have done it. And how would you have viewed this if the Sixers got Damian Lillard with Joel Embiid? What would your expectations be for the Sixers for this upcoming season? If I just give you that, because Joel Embiid, right? It's kind of a little bit about like Tua. It's always if Joel Embiid is healthy.

The way that we talk about Tua, if Tua Tungavailo is healthy. If Joel Embiid is healthy, what do you think the Sixers would have accomplished this year, Damian Lillard with Joel Embiid? I think bare minimum would have been in the Easter coverage finals.

I think that's fair. I think they definitely would have been and definitely would have got further than they've gotten before. It would have also caught up the Sixers with the Celtics, Bucks and Heat. We're sure the Heat have been to two finals. The Bucks have won a championship, but the Celtics have been to a final with this core. But you look at the Celtics, it's like, okay, you really trust Jason Tatum, but can Jalen Brown go left? And if Jason Tatum isn't at his best, can Jalen Brown go win? We saw that in Game 7.

The answer was no, and he still got paid a ridiculous amount of money. You look at the Miami Heat, it's like, yeah, Bam Adebayo is really good. You have Jimmy Butler, but Jimmy Butler doesn't make, you know, they need another shot maker at the end of the game. And you look at the Bucks, Giannis Antetokounmpo is one of the best players in the league, but is Chris Middleton going to be healthy?

You would then get thrown in that conversation where you have a dominant one-two punch, but you're still thrown with the other three teams' questions when you look at the one-two punch. Where Dame is the finisher, but it would always be, can Embiid, who played at MVP level and won the MVP last year, can he stay healthy? And we've seen Embiid, to his credit, play well even when he's not 100%, right? With knee injury, with a facial fracture, like he has played well.

With that black mask that he wore. When he's not 100%, his problem is he's not clutching. You can't rely on him to win you a game late. You now solve that problem by bringing in Dame. For the first time in the Embiid era, would have viewed them as a legitimate contender.

They would have been legit, right? And it stinks because you have to get rid of Maxey, but no one right now is talking about just Embiid with Maxey. We're all talking about how to break up the 1-2-3-4-5-6ers, 10-9-8-76ers. Clap your hands, everybody.

You should have found a way to go get Dame Dalotan. Now, Bucks, Heat, and Celtics this year. If you had to take a guess today, what's your Easter Conference Finals? I will go Bucks, Celtics.

Yeah, I would say so as well. And that would be a heck of an Easter Conference Finals. I may have to make my way out to Milwaukee for that one if I serve for him.

That would be a lot of fun. You and Bart, maybe front row, getting rowdy. I don't think for the Easter Conference Finals, even though I'm Milwaukee's favorite son, I don't think I'd be sitting in front row at the Easter Conference Finals. Maybe like 13, 14, 15 rows back.

Maybe like right behind the benches so you can get a little sweat from Giannis coming off the court like dripping on you? Just as long as I make a stop for lunch at fourth base and then maybe like the next day for dinner I get to go see my guy Omar at Carnivore. Yeah, I think I'd be good.

I think I'd be more than good. You know, you could even sit me upper deck there. I'm not picky. Man of the people right here. Man in Milwaukee, upper deck Gelb. I'm not like you.

I'm not hickey picky, right? I'm just Gelb. I'm just here. Hey, I'm not picky when it comes to seats. Put me in the building.

That's all I ask. I know, but we've got to be careful where we put you because you scream at all these games and next thing you know you're screaming in someone's ear and you're upsetting them and then it's a bad reflection of the show. Well, unless the NBA decides to put the GMs in the second to last row as you did with Bob Myers in Sacramento. With the cowbells. Yeah, but you know he might have a problem if that's the case where second to last row there is Pat Riley sitting next to me.

Otherwise, I don't think I'm too worried. You know what I don't get about that? How is he not in a luxury box? I know that those executives a lot of times are like 10 rows right behind the bench.

But the owner of the Warriors has to have a luxury box there. You know, we didn't see Joe Lacob. I don't think we saw him in the stands there. I'm assuming he was there.

You don't say, hey Bob, let me get you in the luxury box. You have to deal with those Sacramento fans with the cowbells. I've never seen an executive sitting amongst the fans I think ever in my life.

No, no, you're wrong on that. A lot of executives they do sit in the stands. Next to fans? Well, you're talking about a road environment or home environment? Yes, road environment. Okay.

Road environment. That I do not know, but I know for sure, Leon Rose at Madison Square Garden with the Knicks play, his seat is always in the stands. It's like 10 rows behind the Knicks bench. So he's in the stands. Only time Knicks fans see him. Hey, that's my guy Leon.

Someone I've known for a long time. Don't be taking any shots at Leon Rose. Don't be taking any shots at Leon Rose. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. At least he's consistent. He doesn't talk when they win. He doesn't talk when they lose. So at least he's consistent there for you. He'd be one thing if he's only talking when they're winning. He doesn't talk when they win. I think he does like one press conference a year maybe or one media availability year and it's with like Mike Breen or something like that.

Yeah, I was going to say the questions that get asked are, let's say pre-planned already and approved. Sorry Uncle Leon. I could only carry the water for you so far. Gotta have some journalistic integrity here because I'm a big J journalist guy. You know me. When you hear Zach Gelb's voice on the radio, you go, oh, that's a journalist. Actually, I do not believe referring to myself as a journalist. I refer to myself as a talk showist.

And that in theory it's some, but that's just the way that I've always gone about it. Anyways, Zach Gelb's show CBS Sports Radio. We will take a break. When we come on back, we'll update you on some of the biggest stories in the world of sports with some audio.

We will get to a news brief. Get in the zone all season long. You can listen to every Westwood One broadcast of the NFL Live and the NFL app by asking Alexa to open Westwood One Sports or the Odyssey app. Get in the zone, AutoZone.

AutoZone's free battery testing and charging is available for free at your local AutoZone. Get in the zone, AutoZone. Restrictions apply. Right now, between the Lions and Packers, it is 14-3. The Packers got on the board first with a field goal. Then Amara St. Brown caught a 24-yard touchdown from Jared Goff. And David Montgomery just had a 3-yard rush to make it 14-3 in favor of the Lions. So a strong start for Detroit, and we'll see if they can keep it up throughout the game, especially with the last two weeks.

The Packers had the big lead, then they lost, and then last week they were down big, and then they came back and won in that fourth quarter. Okay, news brief starts with Robert Sala. He discusses what Trevor Simeon brings to the JTS.

Jets, jets, jets. Obviously got a lot of games under his belt. He's a quick learner, quick study from my understanding.

And, you know, so just giving him the ability to come onto the practice squad and help us out was the best decision for us. Robert Sala may have the toughest job in the NFL. He has to talk up crap. He has to talk up Zach Wilson, and then after you have to talk up Zach Wilson, you have to go talk up Trevor Simeon.

That sucks. I guess at least the names change, so it's like a little quote-unquote, we'll say fresher if at least it's not Zach Wilson questions. Now it's, oh, Trevor Simeon. You know, he once was on the Broncos. I think he's on the Super Bowl-winning Broncos, so he brings that championship pedigree with him.

Let me just throw out a question to you. The Jets have basically done nothing at the quarterback position since losing Aaron Rodgers. Right? You keep on hyping up Zach Wilson. He stinks.

Right. And now you're bringing Trevor Simeon. And Tim Boyles there stinks. Yeah, he's so irrelevant. His name just gets mentioned, but he's never going to see the field and actually play. How much is it them not actually bringing in like a Carson Wentz who stinks, but he's better than what they have? Or maybe calling up Tennessee, seeing if Tannehill's available, maybe further pursuing Kirk Cousins if he becomes available. How much is it maybe Joe Douglas not wanting to upset Aaron Rodgers? And what I mean by that is Aaron Rodgers gets to decide pretty much the future of everything with the Jets. So if Robert Soler or Joe Douglas does something that Aaron Rodgers doesn't like, like I do believe Joe Douglas and Sol will be back next year. But if Rodgers doesn't want either one of them back, Woody Johnson's going to listen to Aaron Rodgers when he makes his return. And I do believe there's a part of Rodgers that wants to be the hero, wants to be the guy next year that's going to save the day.

And I think Rodgers genuinely does like Zach Wilson. And I wonder why they haven't made a big move is maybe in fear of potentially Rodgers being unhappy with the general manager or the coach of the New York Jets. I mean in terms of the fear, it should be at 0% because the options we're talking about are not better than Aaron Rodgers and or are free. Kirk Cousins is a free at the end of the year. It's not like you're bringing Kirk and he has a four-year deal and there's a chance he could, if he plays well, keep the job into playing Aaron Rodgers. Ryan Tannehill stinks, so it's not like whoever you're bringing in is going to now all of a sudden usurp Aaron Rodgers and throw Rodgers to the side of the road. Yeah, because the only reason why I bring that up is because right now if you're Aaron Rodgers, you're sitting there, you're rehabbing and it's like up the Jets stink, can't wait to get Rodgers back. If they bring in Ryan Tannehill or Kirk Cousins, they bring Kirk Cousins, there's actually excitement. But they're even bringing Ryan Tannehill with how bad it is right now, there is some excitement there. Even though Ryan Tannehill stinks, there would be excitement at the Jets' part in Ryan Tannehill. Now with what I just said, let me ask you this question. Do you think Aaron Rodgers is rooting for the Jets to succeed?

Like honestly, deep down? I don't think he cares. I think Aaron Rodgers is like, we know the season is now relevant. I think he wants to see guys like Saus Gardner play well, Garrett Wilson play well, Allen Lazard play well, Quentin Williams play well. But I don't think Aaron Rodgers is getting all that upset if the Jets keep on losing. Because then he'll come back next year, he wouldn't come back player of the year and probably leave the Jets at the playoffs if we're being honest.

And then he's the savior, then he's the guy. I'm with you. If they're losing, I don't think he's losing sleep over it, to say the least. Probably honestly excites him, because now it only builds a story more for next year.

Let's hear Zach Wilson. He was asked if Joe Namath's criticism bothered him. Yeah, I don't think so.

I don't think so. I mean obviously Joe is an unbelievable player, but this locker room is very tight-knit and we're working to get better. I'm working to get better. I know I need to improve and I promise I'm doing everything I can to keep trying to get better.

And so the focus is just to rely on each other in this locker room and lean on each other, because that's all we got at the end of the day and we're going to do everything we can to keep improving. Smart answer there by Zach Wilson. I think Zach Wilson a year ago says bleep Joe Namath.

Who cares what that old guy has to say? Zach Wilson's in no position to go after Joe Namath there. Just like Robinson is in no position yesterday to trash Joe Namath, at least he understands that. Joe Burrow says he used some advice from Aaron Rodgers on how to deal with the calf injury.

Yeah, we connected last week. He's dealt with calf issues his whole career and wanted to use him as a resource for that and give his thoughts on what he might have done. And I think take into account what he has to say. He's been through it, done that, and he was great about it. So we're going to continue to use that as a resource. He's a great guy.

And so whenever you have a guy like that that's willing to help, you're going to use it. Let's go to Roquan Smith. He says he can't wait to beat the Browns in front of their families. You go in there as the enemy to go take over, and that's our plan to actually go take over. I think they call it the dog pound. I consider myself a dog, so I'm right at home in that place.

So I'm excited to get back in there. And I know they're a physical football team, but so are we. You're considered a bad guy because you're going into essentially another man's house and you're trying to take over. Like his wife, kids, everyone there to watch them. So we're going over to beat their tails in front of their wife and kids. So when you think about it from that perspective, like any man is going to, you know, fight to the death of that point. I know if that's me in that case, I know I would.

So I think about it from that standpoint. I'm just going in, you know, just like I prepared for any other game. Play to the whistle, play physical and hit anything that moves. So I've heard players say we can't wait to send the home fans back to their houses upset. I don't think I've ever heard a player call out the other players' families. Like Roquan Smith, if he ever goes on the road, I never want to hear him bitching if like his family gets treated a little bit poorly. I can't wait to see Miles Garrett's wife go home upset. That's what I'm playing for on Sunday. Not for myself. To make sure his three-year-old son is crying at four o'clock on Sunday.

That's what I want. So I haven't heard this audio, but is this right that Bill Belichick was asked to compare Michael Parsons to Lauren Saylor? Is that correct?

Not asked directly. He said, you know, Michael Parsons, how big a challenge is it to face and scheme against a guy of his talent? So I have not heard this, but I'm going to try to give you the answer that Belichick gives knowing the way that I think I know Belichick. You know, I coached the greatest defensive player ever in Lawrence Taylor, and no one will ever be Lawrence Taylor. But Michael Parsons does things that are similar to what L.T. Lawrence did with us when I was coaching with him when he was playing for us with the New York Giants. But yeah, he's an incredible player, Micah, and we have our hands full on Sunday.

What do we got? Like every great player, he's pretty good at everything. He's got a lot of power. He's very fast. He's long. He's very athletic. So he's a hard guy to cut. He's a hard guy to knock off the ball.

And he plays all over, as you said. So finding him, that's number one. Where is he? He could be inside. He could be outside. He could be on either edge. And he's a big physical player that's very athletic and quick. You know, along the lines of a Taylor.

You know, that kind of athlete. So you are right there, Bill. Brought up, Lords.

All right, look at that. Now, Nick Saban, he probably said he was speaking to his team when talking about the way that Dan Lanning was talking to his Oregon team before the game. Let's hear Nick Saban defend Dan Lanning's pregame speech. Oh, this wasn't on his radio show? This wasn't on the Pee Wee show in Alabama?

This was on the Pat McAfee show. I know the media wants to have access to all these things because it makes it interesting for the fans. And I appreciate that and I understand that. But there's still this sacred time where you should be able to talk to your team and say things to your team to motivate your team that maybe they're not disrespectful about the other. But I understand what Dan Lanning was trying to say. It was probably good for his team to hear in some ways, but it probably wasn't good for everybody else to hear.

I still don't get why everyone or there are a decent amount of people that are going after Dan Lanning. What did he say? He said the other team is playing for clicks.

So what? Saban's right. He's talking to his team. He's trying to fire up his team.

And clearly he did that. They destroyed Oregon. They destroyed Colorado. Oregon did over the weekend.